


The Christmas After

by orphan_account



Category: The Social Network (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 10:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1092794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been months since the lawsuit, will Christmas set them back on track?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Christmas After

**Author's Note:**

> Gift 2/3 for Avery @notquiteaghost for the twitter bubblegum club secret santa!! Merry Christmas!!  
> (I apologise if i characterised badly or was horrendously inaccurate in any way; I watched the film for the first time specifically to write this for Avery so I'm very new to the fandom)

Eduardo walks calmly up to the door of the small house.

"I can do this," he tells himself. "I can do this."

But reaching out to knock proves difficult. He thinks about why he's there.

*

A week ago, Eduardo had recieved a card in the mail. He assumed it was from his parents or a friend; it was Christmas time after all. But when he opened it, he got the shock of his life.

_Merry Christmas, from Mark_

"You have got to be  _kidding_ me."

Eduardo could have just not sent one back. He should have thrown it away and forgotten about it, but how could he? This wasn't something he could ignore. Sure, maybe it was just another case of Mark not quite understanding what was acceptable and what was not, and their relationship had reached a point that even Eduardo himself couldn't understand, but if he left the situation undisturbed, this might continue. He needed to say something.

A phone call wouldn't do; it had to be done face to face. But it wasn't something for lawyers either. It was a 'sit your ass down we need to talk about our friendship (or lack thereof)' kind of ordeal. The tricky part was how he was going to go about getting Mark on his own.

Then he saw the return address.

Eduardo recognised the town as a small residential area on the edge of New York. Why would Mark be there?

But he knew what he had to do.

*

He has to do this, he has to. He can't just let this be. He's angry, frustrated, but at the same time, a feeling he can't describe. A mixture of relief and happiness that Mark still thinks about him, but with guilt that he feels that way because he _shouldn't_. He should absolutely not care about Mark. He should, because they were best friends. They trusted each other, and relied on each other, but he shouldn't, because Mark broke that. For a while, he had been hammering small dents, but one day, he just picked it up and smashed it. Now Eduardo's not sure if Mark's trying to glue the pieces back together or if he just doesn't know what to do with the mess, but either way, this needs to be sorted out. He needs to talk to Mark no matter how painful it might be.

He knocks.

*

Mark didn't expect him to come. Actually, he's not sure what he expected. Now he doesn't know what to do.

He knows it's Eduardo. Of course it's Eduardo; nobody else has this address. He was very careful not to give away anything to anyone else. He'd even booked a hotel room on the far side of New York City to throw people - by which he means Sean - off his scent.

He guesses he should open the door.

He does, and he's right. It's Eduardo.

"Why did you send me a Christmas card?" Eduardo cuts right to the point. He seems upset exasperated, but there's a hint of something else in his voice. Mark can't tell what.

It seems like a fairly simple question, so Mark answers, "To wish you a Merry Christmas."

Eduardo nearly explodes. "No Mark! Why did you send  _me_ a Christmas card? We were best friends, and then you just cut me out of your company, our company, the company we founded  _together_ and I sued your ass and won. And then you send me a  _Christmas card?_ " _  
_

"I'm sorry." The apology was sincere, he doesn't want to upset Eduardo, and Eduardo senses this. It calms him down a little.

"Mark we need to talk."

Mark nods and they go inside, to the living room.

"You want a beer?" Mark asks.

"Sure. Why not? I don't think I want to be completely sober for this anyway." Eduardo takes the can Mark passes to him and his mind flashes back to their college days together, when they would do just this; sit on the couch and drink beer and talk. but the conversation was a little less strained back then.

There's a moment of silence as Eduardo composes himself, and then he recites 

"Okay let's get this straight. I'm not going to talk about Facebook. I'm not going to talk about what you did. I'm angry about that, and I will always be angry about that. What I'm going to talk about right now, is you and me."

"Doesn't what I did come under that topic?"

"Yes but I'm going to talk about all the other things first. Now I have a question. Do you consider me your friend?"

"Yes."

And do you consider yourself my friend?"

"I hope so."

"That's not an answer."

"Well I can't answer that question because I don't know. I don't know if I'm your friend because that's for you to decide. You should hate me, but you're here."

"You're right, I should hate you. I don't know why I don't. Probably because after everything, you go and do something like this and I can't get this twisted idea out of my head that somewhere, deep, deep down, you still actually care about something other than your damn website. Dammit I care about you Mark! I still care about you, but I just couldn't tell you because of the company, because of Sean, because of you. You're so difficult to get through to sometimes and I have no idea how you feel about all this. Which is why I get so confused when you don't talk to me in months and then send me a fucking Christmas card." Eduardo could almost feel tears, but it felt good to get everything off his chest, to tell Mark everything he'd been feeling the past months. It had been too long, far too long.

Mark doesn't know how to answer. Of course he cares. He cares a lot. But he doesn't know how to say that without having to answer why he'd cut Eduardo out of the company. Eduardo is sitting next to him, elbows on his knees, beer in hand, head turned towards Mark, searching his face for an answer.

The next thing he knows, Mark is leaning in and pressing his mouth against Eduardo's. He's warm and soft, but Mark can feel the tension and surprise in his lips. After a few moments Eduardo melts into it, and puts the beer down on the coffee table to free his hands up. The kiss is passionnate, angry, but also desparate. They've wanted this for a long time, they realise that now.

Suddenly Eduardo pulls away.

"Wardo -"

"No. Wait. Just listen for a moment. This doesn't mean you're forgiven. We're going to have to do a lot of talking to make this work. I want this, but I need to know that I can trust you completely. After everything, I just -"

Mark cuts him off with another kiss. Softer and gentler this time. He traces his finger along Eduardo's cheekbone.

"I love you," he says when their lips part. "Okay. We can talk about this, here's me talking. I need you Wardo. This is why we could never work together, this is why I cut you out. Because the more I felt for you the less I felt for the company and that was dangerous. I was a jerk. I'm still a jerk. A girl told me that once. In fact that's kind of how this whole thing started but that's not important. You can trust me. You can learn to trust me, just... give me a chance. I promise that won't happen again. I should have talked to you before but I didn't know how to tell you why I did it."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah. Okay. It's going to be okay. I need to think about this. But I can do later. Right now, I only want to think about  _this._ " Eduardo leans back in and their lips move together as if molded.

Eduardo's hands move under Mark's shirt and Mark's begin to fiddle with Eduardo's zip.

"I love you too," Eduardo whispers.

*

They wake up the next morning, tangled on the sofa. There's a stench of beer coming from the carpet and Eduardo notices the can that got kncked over the night before.

"I'll clean it up later, it's fine," Mark murmers into Eduardo's neck.

Eduardo laughs a little at the warmth of Mark's breath and the vibrations of his lips against his skin.

"Merry Christmas Mark."

Mark looks up at him and smiles.

"Merry Christmas Wardo."


End file.
